Personal blog of the life and times of, well…. me!

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LASIK Laser Eye Surgery

Recently I underwent laser eye surgery to correct an astigmatism that I suffered from in both eyes. This surgery happened a week ago (10th November 2010), and so now I thought I’d write about how this last week has been.

First off, the procedure is completely painless. Completely. You feel nothing, there are no needles, and it’s all done in less than ten minutes. I recommend watching a YouTube video of the procedure like I did after you have it done. It’s very interesting, but it won’t help you decide whether or not to have it done. It is cool to see what they were doing during the procedure though, as your field of view and perspective is pretty limited at the time.

So, the procedure is done, you’re walked out of the room (in some VERY cool blue booties, mind you), and sat down in a recliner to rest after it’s all happened. Straight away you can see, not well, but you can see. My vision was actually better right away than it has ever been without glasses. I had a friend (thanks Caz!) looking after me that day, and she was my chauffeur home. One thing to remember, after the procedure the sun is not your friend. Sunnies aren’t enough, I had a towel draped over my head to block the sunlight. Once I had sheltered my battered peepers away from the sunlight, I was able to finally see what I had in store for myself. Vision. No crystal clear, not yet, but a promise of things to come. Moments of clarity through a haze of healing.

My eyesight still isn’t quite 100%, and I’ve been told this is normal. It sort of feels like I have contacts in there, and sometimes my focus is a little off, but everyday I see it getting better and better. Computer screens and fluoro lights give me headaches with any real use, but I just try and take things easy, give my eyes a chance to heal, and try not to strain them. And I keep them moist with drops provided. The drops help a lot.

If any of you out there have thought about whether or not t0 have it done because you’ve had doubts about its effectiveness, safety or long term effects. Throw those doubts away. It’s safer and cheaper than ever (my clinic charged $AU1350 an eye), and I have never been happier in my life than when I realised I would not be shackled to glasses any more. I didn’t do this for cosmetic reasons, I did it so I never again had to fear broken glasses and being unable to get to my spare, playing with contact lenses, being unable to read the time from bed, swapping out glasses when putting on a bike helmet, being unable to go SCUBA diving, and a myriad of other reasons. It’s freedom, it’s a physical disability gone, and it’s worth every freaking cent.